Jam Bars with Oatmeal

When our kids were little, we'd often grab a box of Nutri-grain bars when heading on a road trip or a day out & about.  At the time, they seemed like the better choice than a chocolate covered granola bar ... until I started reading every label on our food.

These days, we try to pack real food snacks like pepperoni, jerky, cheese, and nuts as much as possible.  We love adding in a little something sweet like these jam bars, homemade muffins, or homemade cookies as a little treat!

What I love the most about these jam bars is that you can change them up with a new jam/preserve!  A few of our favorite jams to use are from our homemade pantry - raspberry, peach ginger plum, pear, and rhubarb jams.

The jam bars stick together best if you chill them in the fridge after letting them cool partway on a cooling rack.  I find that they are more crumbly & fall apart if left at room temperature.

Give them a try & let us know your favorite jam flavour!

Jam Bars with Old Fashioned Oats Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old fashioned or large flake oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional:  you can omit if the jam is super sweet already and you want to keep the sugar content down)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup jam of your choice (raspberry, peach, pear, strawberry, etc.)

Instructions:

• Take an 8x8 baking dish and line it with parchment paper with the ends hanging out of the baking dish (cut the parchment to size, you will use the "handles" to lift the final bars out of the baking dish while they are still warm).
• Preheat the oven to 350F
• In a medium bowl, mix together oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
• Pour melted butter over top and add vanilla.
• Mix until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly.
• Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture and set aside for the top layer.
• Press the remainder of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared 8x8" baking dish.
• Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven.
• Spoon the jam evenly over the bottom layer.
• Using your hands, crumble the reserved topping mixture over top of the jam layer.
• Bake for an additional 14 to 16 minutes until the top is lightly browned.  If you omitted the sugar, the square may not brown as much as normal.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan.
• Using the parchment "handles", lift the square out of the pan and transfer to a cooling rack.
• Let cool for 30 minutes (almost cooled), then transfer to a container and tuck into the fridge to chill.
• Once chilled, remove them from the fridge to cut them into bars.  Using a large butcher knife, cut the square in quarters, then cut each quarter into three long bars.  There will be a total of 12 bars.
• These bars hold their firm shape best if kept chilled.